*+•.+*• Short Stories •*+.•+*

Is it Worth it?

This is the first story I'm gonna post on my account!!! (Yay!) ❤️

Anyways, I got the idea for this story when I found five random words I've never heard before... and I'm going to base a short story of off them! I just found all of the random words on Pinterest and I'm gonna say what the words are then their definitions. (Look for the bolded words 😁) And sorry, some of them are hard to pronounce so I've tried my best to include how to pronounce them. Also, I'm not including any "bad" words in here cause I don't use them... so don't think I'm terrible at insulting people or whatever.

Let's get this party started, shall we?

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1) Abditory: (n) a place into which you can disappear; a hiding place

2) Petrichor: (n) a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather

3) L'appel du vide (lup-pel do vee-duh): (n) "the call of the void" (it is used to describe the urge to jump when you're on the edge of a cliff)

4) Sirimiri: (n) a light rain, a fine drizzle

5) Psithurism (sith ee er ism): (n) the sound of wind through trees

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     I practically dragged my feet toward my last class. I had nothing against Creative Writing... in fact, it was my favorite subject in school. And I practically loved the teacher, Mrs. Hendrickson, because she was always there to help when I had trouble with work or even when other students (or more specifically, Damien and Jonah, the biggest jocks in the school) were bothering me. But today, no Mrs. Hendrickson. So if anyone was going to be bothersome in class (which they usually are), no one was there to give those jerks detention.
     But as I walked into class, I noticed Damien and Jonah were nowhere in sight! And, even if they did come to class, they were surely going to be late and get punished because I walked in seconds before class started. I had a mini celebration inside of my head before I sat in my seat.
Moments later, the bell rang, and the substitute walked in. She strutted up to Mrs. Hendrickson's desk and swiped up the seating chart from the desk.
"I am your substitute for the day," she drawled, "and my name is Ms. Fisk. Your teacher, Mrs. Hendrickson, has told me you are all working on your short fictional story taking place during the Civil War. I expect you to work the entire class time and—"
She was interrupted by two guys stumbling through the door and falling on top of each other. Laughter spread through the room as Damien and Jonah, sitting by the door, made fools of themselves, but I couldn't help but roll my eyes at them. They immediately stood up, and Jonah hastily flattened his chocolate brown hair (which I could only assume took at least an hour to style) while Damien left his greasy blond hair as it was.
Ms. Fisk glared at them over her pink metal glasses. They're going to have one hell of a time, I thought and smirked to myself.
"And why are you two gentlemen late?", she hissed at them. The boys stood at the door, both looking dumbfounded. "Excuse me!?", Fisk barked, "Did either of you hear me or are you just trying to be rude?" Damien and Jonah seemed to have snapped out of it because they shared a quick glance then started making excuses.
"I-I'm so sorry, Miss," Damien babbled, "It was very rude for my friend and me to just ignore you like that. And about why we were late... we, uh, we—"
"—We were helping someone who dropped all of their things!" Jonah declared. Fisk raised an eyebrow. I could tell she looked right through them and I was dangling at the edge of my seat waiting for them to get into trouble.
"It was so terrible," Damien cried, "One moment, everything was fine. The next, pencils scattered everywhere, papers fluttered across the hall, and in the middle of it all, a poor freshman on the verge of tears!"
"It wasn't only the kind thing to do to help that boy," Jonah sniffled, "It was the right thing!" He wiped an imaginary tear from his brown eyes. Damien did the same, but caught me glaring and winked.
What a load of crap, I thought. There is no way Fisk could ever believe them!
"I will give you two a warning and I will be sure to tell Mrs. Hendrickson about this," Fisk stated, "but if you step out of line again, I'll be sure you get detention! Now go sit down at that table over there." She motioned toward the table right behind me. "And get to work!"
Noooo! I thought, I'll never be able to get any work done with them behind me!
As if on cue, Damien and Jonah noisily plopped into their seats and Jonah greeted me with a "Hey, Twerp! Guess we gotta get along today or we'll get detention!"
"...or not," Damien sneered.
My face flushed red but I turned in my seat and gave them the cruelest look I could muster. "You better not start this crap today," I murmured, "Because you both know if anything happens, Mrs. Hendrickson will take my word over yours so just shut it!"
"Oh no!!!", Jonah whispered, "you're not gonna tell on us are you?" He clutched Damien, pretending to be frightened, before he sneered at me. I huffed and turned back forward in my seat. Jamming my earbuds in my ears, I began to blare Twenty One Pilots and told myself to ignore their antics.
     My attempts at sounding them out with my music failed as they repeatedly tugged out my earbuds to whisper a snide remark in my ear. "Whatcha doing there, sweetheart?", They'd whisper or sometimes they'd go "You might as well just stop writing, nothing you write is good anyway..." until I couldn't handle it anymore. I faced them, my face bright red and teeth bared.
     "Be quiet!", I whispered angrily, and with my heart pounding loudly in my ears, drowning out my music I said, "unlike you, I'm actually trying to be productive and unlike you, the teacher actually likes me and my writing and will trust me 100% when I say you two were being jerks!!! So unless you want detention for a week... shut... up!" Fisk heard me and glared at me over her glasses.
     "Be quiet," she growled at me, "others are trying to work here!"
     "Sorry..." I mumbled. I wished I had an abditory to sink into and get away from my shame for getting yelled at. Luckily, none of my classmates noticed... except for two. I turned back to the two boys who had both been overcome in fits of muffled giggles.
     "Now stop bothering me!", I hissed at them, "I'm gonna get in trouble!"
     "Like that's what you're gonna get in trouble for," Jonah answered back, "and not this horrible writing you have here." He snatched up my notebook and began reading what I had written.
     "No—!" I whispered and struggled to take it back.
     "Pshhh," Damien mumbled, "This really does suck! What is this, 'Jonathan clutched the note his dear Mary had sent, his finger rubbing longingly over her beautiful signature at the bottom. A salty tear dripped from his chin and nearly smudged the writing on... blah blah blah!" He giggled, "This is a romance story, isn't it? No wonder it's crap!"
     "Back off!" I whisper-yelled and seized my notebook, ripping several of my treasured pages in the process. Tears rolled down my face and blurred my vision. I sniffled, and stared the bullies in the face.
"Get... away... from me," I hiccuped and buried my face in my arms. I heard the boys high five and laugh over my defeat.
One of the two leaned in close, their hot breath tickling my neck. "I'm actually surprised she's passing this class, it's probably only because she's the teachers pet... Hendrickson loves a good suck-up in her class..." suddenly, my neck snapped up and I leaned into the boys' faces.
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" I bursted at them. The room was still. I didn't even realize I was standing. I faced the class. Everyone stared at me, with my tear-stricken face and my ripped notebook. I glared at the boys who both had smug looks on their faces. God, I would do anything so slap them senseless at that moment. Just then, the substitute's voice rang throughout the room.
"DETENTION!" she cried, "I will email your teacher and I will be sure you have detention next week! Never have I seen a student so disrespectful... shouting during the middle of class and being disruptive many times. You should be ashamed." I started to protest that it wasn't my fault but she cut me off. "No!" she yelled, "sit down and be quiet while I email your teacher."
I did the exact opposite of what she instructed. I swiped all of my books into my bag, and shoved past Damien and Jonah on my way to the door. I ran, sobs racking my body and my face covered in tears. I didn't care what happened. I didn't care if I got a year of detention. I couldn't be around Damien, Jonah, or that teacher a moment longer.
I could barely see a thing, everything looked like a blur through my tears. Still, I somehow managed to run through the halls and out the main office doors. I ran out and didn't stop running. I ran past my house, throwing my bag against the garage, and I kept going. Past my old treehouse, past the forest, past the boulder I would sit atop while doing homework, until I reached a familiar path. I stopped, leaning against a tree to catch my breath and compose myself.
When I had stopped crying and felt calmer, I started along the dirt path once more. All that accompanied me on my lonely walk was the sound of my footsteps and the light psithurism blowing through the treetops. The dirt path soon led me out of the forest and through a rocky landscape devoid of all life except for a few shrubs here and there.
     It was only when I had escaped from my protection underneath the forest foliage when I realized the sky was dark and dreary. A light sirimiri drizzled around me and I shivered at how cold it was. Perfect, I thought, I came out here to escape and it seems even Mother Nature wants to ruin my day. Despite the untimely weather, I flipped up my hood and kept walking. I came all this way, and I wasn't going to stop until I reached where I wanted to go.
     This path was familiar to me, and was a frequent hideout for me ever since I was young.  I had every rock, every weed memorized by now. I had visited this place every time I needed calming down, which was more often than not in recent times.
     After a few more minutes, my sweatshirt was soaked through, but I kept going and in a few more, I reached my destination. In front of my lay a cliff, plummeting at least 50 feet down. On the edge of the cliff stood a dead tree, hollowed out by my busy hands through the years and filled with my most prized possessions. The collar from my first dog, most of my money, the blanket my parents gave me when I was born. Of course, I also had necessities packed away such as clothing, food, gallons of clean water, pillows and blankets (in case I spent the night), a supply of batteries and flashlights, and old books. I reached into the small crawl space and pulled out a sweatshirt. I peeled mine away from my damp skin and slid the dry fluffy one over my t-shirt. I tossed the wet one aside and walked over to the cliff's edge.
     I brushed my brown hair out of my eyes and peered over the edge. Sharp rocks poked out every which way at the bottom of the canyon, promising to kill any who would meet them. I was filled with a strange sense of l'appel du vide as I gazed down the cliff wall. One jump, and everything would be gone. All of my problems would be solved. No more bullies, no more worries. And, no one would find me for days. No one knew about my hideout, and it would take months to figure out I jumped into this chasm, to find my hideout inside of the tree. The cliff beckoned me forward, so I lifted my leg over the edge.   
     Then... I thought for a moment. If I jumped, everything would be gone. That means the bullies and all of my troubles. That also means... I would never see my family again. I would never get to become a writer. I would never see the world. I would never— I took a deep breath and stepped away from the edge. Jumping would solve nothing. It would only mean I'd be gone, never to pet another puppy, write another story, or read another book.
     I looked up, to see a blue patch of sky staring at me through the darkness of the clouds around it. Slowly, the patch grew, until the light overcame the dark and the sun warmed my face. I flipped down my hood and breathed in the fresh air. A faint smell of petrichor filled my nostrils. If I would've jumped, I would never have seen the bright sun again. My last moments would've been flooded with the dreariness of the dark clouds. I smiled, because I knew I made the right decision.
     I slowly walked back to my house. And this time, instead of glancing past the rocks and plants, I observed everything. All of the life around me made me smile. I took in every leaf, every ant crawling on the ground, I heard every rustle of a bush, smelled every flower I walked past. If I would've jumped, I would never have seen another animal or tree again.
     As I neared the edge of the forest, and my house was in sight, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I received an email from Mrs. Hendrickson. It read:
Dear Joy,
Your substitute had emailed me a couple of hours ago regarding your behavior in class. She had told me that you were being very disruptive during the last hour of school and she insisted you have a week's detention. I found this strange, as you are my best student. Iwant you to tell me what had happened today. Perhaps we could meet after school tomorrow to discuss?
     Have a good evening,
     Mrs. Hendrickson

     My heart swelled. Nothing will be wrong anymore once Mrs. Hendrickson sees what really happened in class today. My punishment will be lifted, and Damien and Jonah will get what they really deserve! Oh, how things were turning around for the better today! I ran into my house and jumped on my bed. The soft blankets welcomed me and I breathed in their heavenly lilac scent. I realized Mom must've washed them today because she knows how happy it makes me to have clean sheets. I laid down on my clean pillows and stared at the dream catcher hanging over my bed, always making silent promises to keep me safe. A tear rolled down my cheek. Not from sadness, but from happiness.
     If I had jumped, I would never have felt real Joy again.

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Wow! \(•O•)/ There it was, my first story! I feel so excited to publish it and for everyone to read it!!! I really hope you liked it and want to read more. I just can't wait to get a lot of views and publish a lot of stories! If you liked this, be sure to give it a vote and give me some feedback! And tell me if you want longer stories, or shorter stories too. Thank you!

Goodbye for now!
~Khloe :D